I’m really impressed with the sips (and some of their prices) offered at this year’s Epcot Food & Wine Festival. I got a chance to stop by this past Saturday and here were some of my high points (along with a couple of low ones too).

First off, this year there is a new beer pavilion, one celebrating “15 Beers For 15 Years.” You can’t miss it, it’s a large one loaded with bottles of beer when you first enter the World Showcase. The beers include: Fischer Amber, Full Sail Amber, Key West Sunset Ale, La Fin Du Monde, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Smithwick’s, Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, Widmer Hefeweizen, Abita Amber, Abita Purple Haze, B.B. Burgerbrau, Banks Beer, Florida Lager, Sessions Lager and Viru Pilsner.

A solid selection. Not exactly anything rare in there, you can find most at the local Total Wine & More in Orlando or at many bars around the area, but still a refreshing selection compared to the usual theme park find. The prices were also very fair, with 6 oz. ranging between $2.75-$3.25 and 12 oz. ranging from $5-$6.25.

Some other happy gems I found during my drinking tour of the festival:

Puerto Rico’s Bacardi Frozen Torched Cherry Colada. A creamy, frozen treat that was well worth standing in line for. I also heard their Bacardi Frozen Limon Mojito was equally delish.

France’s Grand Marnier Orange Slush is an annual tradition for me. I always look forward to the Creamsicle with a kick taste in my mouth. Good news is that you can order the drink year round — it’s not just served during the Food & Wine Fest, but I reserve it for that occasion. I think the best comment I heard about the slush was from my friend’s mom who said because of it she never seems to make it past France while at the World Showcase. It’s really fantastic!

For the Sam Adams fans, there are a ton of different beers from the brewer at the Hops and Barley Market across from America Gardens stage. Seriously, a great selection.

There were a couple of low points.

One was when Ireland couldn’t serve Guinness because no one knew how to tap a keg. Really?

The other slightly hindered another fave drink of mine: the Fiesta frozen margarita in Mexico. They weren’t completely frozen, and sort of slushy. But the tequila was in there and as the lady in front of me said, that is what matters.

Belgium ran out of bottled water for about an hour and a half while I was there too.

I started my celebrating early by attending the grand re-opening of La Hacienda de San Angel in Epcot last night. You may remember the little outdoor eatery in Mexico in the World Showcase. Well it’s no longer little or all outdoors. The expansion includes an indoor restaurant with a beautiful view of the World Showcase Lagoon and a perfect air conditioned spot to view the nightly IllumiNations show. And of course there are margaritas — so that makes it even better.

Head over to CityArts Factory in downtown Orlando tonight for the Third Thursday Gallery Hop from 6-9 p.m. The hop spotlights galleries and non-traditional art venues, such as restaurants, boutiques, and salons, too.

I’m not big on the old-school (school not with a k) University Club, but they have a special event tonight I can get behind. “Cocktails For A Cause” happens tonight from 5:30 – 7 p.m. and is open to the public (University Club is normally for members only). The free event will have volunteers from Canine Companions serve as bartenders with all gratuities donated to the charity.

On Jan. 7 Portobello Restaurant in Downtown Disney will be holding an Italian Beer Dinner. The dinner will take place from 6:30 – 9 p.m. and will feature hand-crafted Italian beers with each course. Here is the menu:

Gary Vaynerchuk with Wine Library TV recently took a couple of minutes out of his day at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival to school me on some different types of Riesling. I’m a big fan but not as knowledgeable as I should be. Thanks Gary!

He also had a message for my readers as well: Expand your palates! He wants you all to explore wine and drink different types. I’m with the man! Drink more wine everyone!

I’ve been working for the Orlando Sentinel for over 10 years now and
I’ve attended some nice events, but this ranks as one of the best I’ve been to in Central Florida.

There are seven themes that take place every Saturday night during the festival; I attended the “Celebrating Asian Cuisine.” (There are two more left: “Celebrating The Fall Harvest” on Oct. 31 and “Celebrating Italian Cuisine” on Nov. 7.)

From the moment the curtain rises inside the World ShowPlace Pavilion, it is a wave of colors, music and most importantly food and drink. The Pavilion has about 40,000 square feet of functional space, and it felt
like 80 percent of it was filled with food and wine stations offering samples of some of the most delicious items your mouth has tasted.

The event is aptly named because every sense is constantly stimulated during the event (from 6:30 – 9 p.m.). But let’s get down to the good stuff.

Some of the most delectable offerings included crispy beef short ribs with braised tofu skins and a Chinese black vinegar sauce from JULIAN in Kansas City, MO, the garlic-marinated lamb chops with a nuoc cham sauce from Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club and a sake-braised osso bucco with a Hawaiian bread boule and dried cherry Pinot reduction from Ohana inside Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

And when I single these three out, it’s because they were standouts from offerings that were all delicious (and I’ll end up writing a book if I included everything). If you’re a cheese lover the International Cheese Selections offered by igourmet.com will have you on a cloud. For the chocolate lovers out there a chocolate mousse with a salted caramel cremeux from Barry Callebaut Chocolate may have you questioning your
belief system. I’m not even a chocolate lover and I couldn’t get that dark chocolate taste out of my head the next day.

As for libations – my favorite subject – I kept tipping my glass for refills toward the folks at Gekkeikan National who had a bubbly sake topped off with a plum wine, Chateau des Charmes’ Riesling and a strawberry balsamic martini made with Chopin Vodka from Poland. That last one may sound scary, but the balsamic is so light that it cancels out any extra sweetness from the strawberry and the drink is just so refreshing.

Now for the price tag – this is an expensive event. The ticket is $135 on top of Epcot admission. If you want to sit in the Wine View Lounge, which includes a full bar and sit-down tables it’s an extra $75. To be honest, there are enough stand-up tables to suffice, and you’re constantly moving so sitting down isn’t something you want to do until
three-quarters into the event when you’re about ready to fall into a food and drink coma. Even then, there were plenty of tables toward the front of the pavilion without having to pay the $75.

As far as the $135, you’re spending very close to that if you stay a full day at Epcot during the Food & Wine Festival. Except this has air-conditioning coupled with stunning ambiance, live music and food and wine that will beat the socks off of the food in the festival. Also, in my experience, there was no wait which is worth it alone.

It’s up to you, but I’m already saving my pennies in the jar for next year.

I stopped by Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival yesterday and every year I enjoy this festival more and more. This year there is definitely a more pronounced emphasis on other drinks at each stop than just wine, although that is still the co-star of the party along with the food.

Between the France and Morocco pavilions there is a “Beer Hop” that allows you to sample a variety of beers with a “Beer Passport” and “The History of Beer in America’ seminars take place in the American Adventure pavilion daily at 11:50 a.m., 12:35 p.m., 2:05 p.m., 3:35 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Hosted by The Boston Beer Company, brewers of Samuel Adams.

The Mexico pavilion is offering Tequila tastings this year at its new La Cava del Tequila (which I will be writing about next week). The tequila tasting happens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. and is $35 per person (that’s including tip) along with the cost of actually getting into the theme park.

Here’s a gallery of all the menus from each of the booths at the festival. Lots of choices to drink from!